Going PLACES: Fostering a community for youth in Detroit

BY Monae Dale, Program Manager, Housing & Economic Opportunity at the California Community Foundation, and 2023 PLACES Fellow As someone new in the philanthropy space, I was delighted to have the opportunity to apply for the PLACES fellowship as I prioritize professional development opportunities that challenge my thinking. I work as a program manager at the California Community Foundation…

Going PLACES: Heartache drives my purpose

BY Ronda Lee Chapman, National Equity Director, Trust for Public Land, and 2023 PLACES Fellow   "Keep Portland Weird" is a vibe, albeit one that has perhaps run its course. I lived in Stumptown for just over a decade in the early aughts. It’s where I cut my teeth as a sustainability generalist, dug deep into diversifying the environmental movement, and gained a rich understanding of…

Going PLACES: Perspectives, Reflections, and Authentic Storytelling

BY Shilpa Shankar, Program Associate; Equity Lead at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a 2023 PLACES Fellow PLACES, which stands for Professionals Learning About Community, Equity and Sustainability, is a year-long learning journey designed to help sixteen professionals in philanthropy deepen their understanding of systemic inequities and acquire the tools necessary to challenge these…

Going PLACES: 2022 PLACES Fellowship – In Retrospect

BY Katrina Julien, Senior Program Officer at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, and 2022 PLACES Fellow   For The Funders Network, PLACES stands for Professionals Learning About Community, Equity and Sustainability. This is something that all alumni know by the end of the program, as we are encouraged to embody those ideals and be able to introduce them and our cohort at any…

Going PLACES: Reflecting on inclusive strategies to economic growth in Oklahoma City

BY Jessica L. González Martínez, New Growth Innovation Network and 2022 PLACES Fellow   I debated for a while about how I wanted to share the experience I had in Oklahoma City. So much rustled in my head regarding opportunities lost and opportunities forged. Like most communities, there appears to be a centuries-long project of weaving and mending, movements and actions of healing…

Going PLACES | Reflections from Vermont: What can philanthropy do better?

BY Jennifer Pereira, PLACES Fellow Arriving in Burlington, Vt., after a five-hour car ride from Rhode Island, I was struck by the beauty of the landscape: the sun shining on Lake Champlain, surrounded by mountains. I was in Vermont for the first of three site visits as one of sixteen PLACES Fellows. PLACES is designed for participants to use learning, coaching and reflections onsite to explore…

Going PLACES: What Are You Giving To Communities As A Healer?

By Gabrielle Sims, Project Associate, Shah Family Foundation   Going PLACES is an occasional blog series featuring the voices and experiences of TFN’s PLACES Fellows. For more information on the fellowship, and to read past blog posts from our fellows, visit here. El Paso was the city that I was most excited to visit over the course of my PLACES journey. Before the visit, I…

Going PLACES: Small Incremental Change is Systems Change

By Sara Levine, Quality Schools Program Officer, The Rogers Family Foundation Going PLACES is an occasional blog series featuring the voices and experiences of TFN’s PLACES Fellows. For more information on the fellowship, and to read past blog posts from our fellows, visit here. El Paso appears like a man-made island surrounded by the vast emptiness of the west Texas desert,…

Going PLACES: Pride, gratitude and Hope in El Paso

By Denise Herrera, PhD, Senior Capacity Building Officer, St. David’s Foundation and PLACES 2019 Fellow Going PLACES is an occasional blog series featuring the voices and experiences of TFN’s PLACES Fellows. For more information on the fellowship, and to read past blog posts from our fellows, visit here. I grew up three and a half hours north of El Paso, so I was excited to…